Thinking about how to improve your running performance?

I might have some tips for you...

Running has always been considered as a very hard sport. Hard to catch up with, hard to stay motivated and hard to improve. Wanna heard the truth? The more consistent you are, the better and easier you get! Of course, it's easier said than done, so here are my tips on how to improve in this beautiful sport.

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1. It's not just about long runs

In the beginning, we have all been tempted to run as far as we can. Although it is helpful and motivating to see how your mileage improves over time, truth is that you might be overtraining a bit. Instead of just running long runs three to four times a week, try other types of training. You can choose between tempo runs, sprints, doing some hill work, speed works, there are plenty of things to do... Of course, I feel the need to tell you that it's always better to have a coach of your own, overtraining is no joke and you can get seriously harmed. It's not just about quantity kilometres/miles, but quality km/miles.

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2. Recovery is key

Although it might seem that running is the only way to get better, recovery and quality food are key. While you sleep, your muscles build up and recover from all the damage it suffered while you trained, that's why sleeping the proper amount of hours is vital to keeping your body strong.

Also, this means leaving some rest-days in between! It's a very common mistake to run every-single-day for a very long strike, unless you've been running for quite some time. Rest days are what allows your body to fully recover from a very hard session, some people might need just an afternoon to recover, others a day and even two days, it all depends on how hard you're traIning and your weekly mileage. So as for me, I tend to have rest days on Mondays (after Sunday's long run) and, sometimes, Friday if I'm feeling way too tired.

Here's when it'll be helpful to listen to your body. Only you can know when you're tired and it's ok to skip a run if you're not feeling completelly recovered.

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3. Make friends with cross-training

Cross-training? Yup, it's been proved that it can help you gain endurance and run even better. This means that you can improve your run by practicing other sports, such as riding a bike. This will help you gain strenght and prevent injuries, as you will be developing your upper-body and other muscles from your legs.

Strenght training might be a bit more difficult and tedious for us runners, but discipline will get you through it and you will thank me for it afterwards! Your runs will change completelly after developing some strenght!

Some other disciplines that you might find interesting are biking, yoga, walking, strenght training at the gym, sailing... The possibilities are endless!

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4. What about fuel?!

As any machine does, your body runs on fuel and how you feed it is how it'll respond when running.

If you only eat fats and lots of carbohydrates you might end up feeling too heavy, due to how thick your blood will be. But on the opposite side, if you eat in a balanced diet that includes the proper amounts of carbohydrates, healthy fats and proteins, you will see the difference.

• Before running, you should eat something light that you know your body will digest properly, this is some fruit (try to avoid banana if you're eating it an hour before running) or some white bread.

• You should only eat during your run if you're in a long run that's longer that 90 minutes. If so, I tend to eat gummies. As they're made out of pure sugar, it's pretty easy to digest and it's an incredible energy boost.

• After your run, nutrition is vital: a good combination of carbohydrates and protein will make it for you. You can eat a sandwich with ham, some scrambled eggs and toasts, oat, etc.

After some time, you start getting used to adjusting your nutrition to your training plan, but as I have said before, it's better if you have a nutritionist to help you with this!

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5. Be persistent

Changes and improvements don't come overnight, it all takes time. It takes time to your body to get used to faster paces and to learn what endurance is about, any shortcut you feel like taking will only lead you to a bigger chance of an injury and I bet that's not what you want.

You must be willing to really commit and to give it all your best if you want to improve, but I can assure you it's absolutely worth it! As Tolstoy said "the two most powerful warriors are patience and time".

There might be times in which you don't feel like training, but that's where your discipline shows up. That's when you need to guide yourself into the desire of being better than your excuses and to remind yourself that you'll feel so much better after a run, even if it's just a 10 minute run.

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